Look for the Pirates to continue their recent road success tonight in LA when they take on the Dodgers.
This line is about who needs to win and not what about what these teams are doing in the present.
The Pirates are coming off a 5-1 homestand where they avoided letting the Mets clinch the division by giving them the sweep. Pittsburgh is not a good road team by any stretch, but its last roadtrip was their best of the season as they went 5-5, the most wins secured on a highway excursion this year.
The Dodgers picked up an enormous win last night to retake first place in the West but it came with some repercussions. Los Angeles used a big dose of its bullpen for the second time in three games and, with Hong-Chih Kuo making just his third career start, we are going to see that tired bullpen come into play on Tuesday.
Kuo has not gone past six innings as his stamina is not where it needs to be yet after coming out of the bullpen. He has a 5.00 ERA and 1.61 WHIP at Dodger Stadium this season and that is mostly due to lack of control as he has 17 walks in 18 innings compared to just 21 strikeouts.
As stated before, the Pirates are not a great road team, but Ian Snell gives them a chance. Of their 22 road victories, over one-third of those have come with Snell on the mound which is a huge percentage. He has a respectable 4.10 ERA on the road and night time is the right time for Snell as he is 11-5 with a 4.15 ERA while Pittsburgh has won 15 of his 23 after dark starts. Pittsburgh is hitting .291 on the season against lefties including .300 over its last 10 games while the Dodgers are hitting just .256 against righties over that span.
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Matt Fargo: Play Pirates over Dodgers
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